Brasserie Beck and Marcel's

Brasserie Beck and Marcel's

Robert Wiedmaier's Washington, D.C., restaurants present two distinct moods and one ultra-rewarding common theme. By Carolanne Griffith Roberts

Get ready for sumptuous sauces you will want to memorize - or, better, immortalize. Lest we gush, it's the sauces we remember from Robert Wiedmaier at both of his delectable restaurants in our Nation's Capital: Brasserie Beck, a bustling, Belgian-inspired bistro, serving day and night; and its dignified older sibling, Marcel's, where you sit up straighter and pay attention to every morsel. You'd never request a dish at either place without the sauce - it's not a mere add-on or cover-up.

Sauce is at the heart of marvels such as the duck confit at Beck: cooked 12 hours, picked from the bones, pan-seared, mounded on creamy potatoes, and finally topped with a sentence-stopping sauce, rich and robust from the deep essence of the duck. Complement it with any beer- from the list of 160 mostly Belgian brews - chosen by the beer sommelier (yes!).

During the three- to seven-course tasting menu at Marcel's, sauces prevail again: on a fillet of Dover sole, with an unexpected hint of vermouth. Or in a lingering rift" of Cabernet reduction on the bison, encrusted with spices. The fare is not simple - but the memory is simply grand. Brasserie Beck: 1101 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20005; www.beckdc.com or (202) 408-1717. Entrées from $19. Marcel's: 2401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20037; www.marcelsdc.com or (202) 296-1166. Tasting menus from $52. Both restaurants are open daily.

The mayonnaise trio served with rasserie Beck's acclaimed Belgian frites homemade-regular, ketchup-based, and curried (try them all).

About Robert

The chef, rafsed in Germany by parents from Be1g~um and Catifornia, studied in the Net herlands. Robert says, `If anything, I'm a saucier." At Brasserie Beck alone, he produces about 17 different sauces.

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